Flexible sheet material



May 27, l930- D. P. cuMMlNGs FLEXIBLE SHEET MATERIAL Filed June 6, 1927 vlruvernor". David P'Curnmlngs byfmlwkw ATtys.

Patented May-27, 1930l PATENT-` orly-lcs n DAVID P. CUMMINGS, F NEWTON CENTER, MASSACHUSETTS FLEXIBLE SHEET MATERIAL Applicationl led .June 6, 1927. Serial No. 196,771.

This invention relates to a novel flexible sheet material and the process of producing the same. A One of the objects of the invention is to provide a flexible sheet material in the nature 'of a leather substitute having a liexible, but relatively inelastic woven body'presenting a surface which may be compared to the grain of the leather with interengaging massed libres woven in said bo'dy and projecting from the opposite side, and the whole impregnated throughout with a permanently flexible binder, the material being such that the reverse face formed by the interengaged fibres is comparable to the grain side of leather.

l A further object of the invention is to provide a double face sheet material comprising parallel webs of fabric spaced apart by relatively movable fibres woven into said webs 20. and impregnated throughout with a permanently flexible binder, thereby producing a product which may be considered as comparable to a double face leather.

A further object of the invention is to proallel webs of fabricconnected by a pile common to both webs and impregnated throughout with a permanently flexible binder, preferably rubber, compacted, and vulcanized under pressure, to produce a material comparable to leather having a grain surface upon each side.

A further object of the invention is to provide a material of the characterdescribed having a coating layer of preferably vulcanized material which may be embossed or grained to simulate leather vor leather composition.

A further object of the invention is to proa manner that the material may be used as Welts for shoes.

provide a novel waterproof sheet material `of great flexibility, strength and durability, which may be employed in variousfarts as leather substitutes or rubber substitutes.

The invention further relatesl to a Aprocess vide a double face material comprising parvide a coated material of this character in,- which the coating may be channeled in such of.l producing articles of the character above described. Y

Other objects and features of the invention will more fully appear from the following description and the accompanying drawings and will be particularly pointed Iout in the claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of a flexible double face sheet material comprising webs 6g of fabric spaced apart by a pile common to both Webs and impregnated with a permanently4 ilexible binder and compacted;

Fig. 2 is an edge view upon an enlarged scale of a double pile fabric comprising upper and lower parallel webs of fabric connected by a common pile;

Fig. 3 is a view in perspective of the double face sheet material illustrated in Fig. 1 having surface coatings applied thereto;

Fig. 4 is a view showing a pile fabric impregnated with a permanently flexible binder and having secured to thepile face thereof a coating layer` of a substance adherent to the impregnating binder; 15

Fig. 5 is an edge view of two pile fabrics with the piles thereof presented toward each other;

Fig. 6 is an edge view of the pile fabrics illustrated in Fig. 5, with the piles thereof 50 interengaged and impregnated throughout with a permanently flexible binder;

Fig. 7 is an edge view of a single pile fabric impregnated with a permanently flexible binder and compacted to cause permanent in- 55 terengagement of the binder-impregnated fibres; and,

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a section of Welt comprising a double face fabric having a surface layer channeled to receive the eo stitches and showing the manner in which the channel may be formed.

The invention herein relates to the producet' f ii'bl h 'lf' In short, the obJect of the inventlon 1s .tof lon O a 6X1 e s eet matena olmed by ile fabric having a woven impregnating a bres woven therein wlth a body with pile permanently flexible, preferably water-repellant, binder. Preferably tne sheet material is made double faced by. placing one pile of fabric upon another. #w1th the piles interen- 100 4gaged, or by providing al double pile fabric comprising two parallel woven webs connected by a common pile. In eithercase the material is impregnated throughout wlth a permanently flexible binder and thereafterV the fact that the fibres of the pile, which are `interposed between the woven faces thereof,\

permit relatively free movement of the woven webs with respect to each other, while the impregna-)ted ile fabric'binds the woven webs firmly ut lexibly togetherf ployed as a binder.

Any suitable permanently flexible binder which can be reduced to suiicient thinnessproperly to impregnate the 'material throughout may be employed.

The preferred .method of producing the material consists in. thoroughly impregnating the pile fabric, or preferably pile fabrics, in which the piles are interengaged, or a double face pile fabric having a common pile, with i a suitable vaporizable cementitious liquid, such as latex, pyroxylin, or resinous composition, thereafter permitting or causing vapori'zation of the volatile content of the liquid, and then compressing the material to produce a/relatively thi-n sheet in which the pile or fibres, as wellas the web or webs of the sheet, are thoroughly impregnated and compacted.

VPreferably a vulcanizable material is em- Such impregnating material desirably is pure rubber produced by impregnating the material thoroughly with latex. By the employment of latex the fibres are impregnated and coated with rubber which can be readily vulcanized under heat and pressure. This impregnating mate- Y rial, which also of fabric, is capa le of adherence to, or unit- 1s lllustrated-Wvhich comprises a'pile fabricy rmeates the web or webs ini homogeneously with, a coating of rubber, ru ber composition, or other coatin which may be so treated as' to either resem 1e rubber or imitation leather. f v

The coating may be applied'by spreading,

"The flexible sheet material may be'produ'ced in" accordance with my invention from various types of pile fabric. The construction illustrated. in Fi 1 comprises a double face pile fabric whic consists of an upper woven' web land a lower woven lweb 2 havingacommon pile 3. The structure of this double ile fabric is more particularl illustrated in ig.

2 in which the webs of abric are shownas A'separated by a plle common to both fabrics formed by threads extending through jthe upper and lower webs perpendicular thereto and spacmg the'webs apart.n This double ceeding-ly flexible.

pile fabric is commonly produced in the manufacture of pile fabric and the common pile cut or split intermediate of the webs to provide two webs of fabric havin a pile extending from one face thereof. T is desirabl 1s the material which is employed in the pro uc- ,tion of the present impregnated sheet mateillustrated in' Fig.1,.provi'ded with surface Y coating 4 and 5 of flexible water-repellant ma. trial which is adherent to, or'coherent with, the binder,lsuch for example as a rubber composition where latex, or other impregnating material of rubber composition is employed.

Fig. 4 illustrates a web of fabric 6 having a pile 7 impregn'atedwith a suitable, perma'- nently flexible, binder, such/as rubber produced from latex, with a surface layer 8 of rubber, rubber composition, vor other suitable material /adherent to the binder compressed thereupon.

Fig. 5 illustrates two separate pile fabrics, the upper fabric having a web 9 and apile 10, while the lower layer comprises a web 11 f and a pile 12. In the production of the fabric herein described these two pile fabrics may be compressed together sothat the piles 10 and 12 thereof will be interengaged or interlaced, while the webs 9 and 11 present upper and lower faces of'themateriah the whole being impregnated, as before stated,"with a suitable, permanently iiexible, binder prefer# ably havmg water-repellant-lcharacteristics.

:es i

In Fig. 7 a modified form of the invention liO having a woven Web 13 and a p1le14, the l Whole being thoroughly impregnated withthe binder, and compressed, to cause interengagement and interlacing ofthe fibres of the pile. This alsopresents amaterial which I is analogous toleather, the woven face ofthe pile correspondmg to the grain surface of the leather While the interlaced fibres correspond in effect to the flesh svide'of the leather. The flexible sheet material, whether single face as illustrated in Fig: 7 or double face as illustrated in Figs. 1,' 3 and 6,V have the characteristic break of-leather and are lex- This sheet material is adapted to be vemployed in various arts for many of the purposes for whith leather, o'r rubber sheet materiall is used. The sheets are permanently flexible and are' of extreme tenaclty, being practically incapable of being torn 1n any direction. They are equally iiexelasticity in the` direction of the length or the Width of the sheet because of the Woven character of the webs of the pile fabric.4

The utility of the material covers so wide, a range that it seems useless to designate instances in which it may be employed. One of the uses, however, to which it may be readily adapted is in the production -of Welts for shoes. In such case, the single, or preferably the double, face material is provided with a surface coating and a channelformed in the coating in proximity to the ledge 4vthereof. A desirable form of welt is shown in Fig. 8 which illustrates a double pile fabric such as that shown in Fig. 3, the surface layer 4 being provided with a channel .15 extending longitudinally thereof in proximity to one of the edges of the strip of material. A channel of this character can be readily formed during the compacting of the material by impressing a half-round rod 16 into the surface layer 4 at the time the layer is applied and `,vulcanized upon the surface of the impregnated sheet material. When this welt is stitched to the shoe the-stitches will lie within the channel 15. The stitches will not only pass through the Woven Webs of the material, but also through Ithe impregnated pile which intervenes between the Woven layers, thus producing an anchorage for the stitches Vwhich is superior to that of any known mal impregnation with the permanently flexible binder, is adapted to many uses where eX- cessive strain or wear is imposed upon the material.

The term pile fabric is used herein in a broad sense as including any fabric having freely movable libres or threads extending from a face thereof. s

While latex has been described as the preferredimpregnating binding materialfit will be readily understood that other substances or com ositions may be employed, such as pyroxy in, or pyroxylin composition, or other resinous or gummy substances capable of impregnating the material throughout and of providing a permanent-ly flexible binder. It will, therefore, be understood that the particular disclosureofsthe present invention is of an illustrative character and is not restrictive of the use of other impregnating materials, or of other fabrics which present a surface having relatively movable fibres or threads anchored in the web and projecting from a face thereof. a

is claimed as new, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is: v

1. A double face sheet material comprising parallel webs of ile fabric spaced apart by compactedl pile res lying in intermingled angular relation to the planes of said webs and impregnated throughout with a permanently flexible water-repellant binder. 2. A double face sheet material comprising parallel webs of pile fabric spaced apart by compacted pile fibres lying in intermingled angular relation to the planes of said webs, impregnated throughout with a permanently flexible binder, and provided with a surface coating adherent to said impregnating binder.

3. A double face sheet material comprising parallel webs of pile fabric spaced apart by compacted pile fibres lying in intermingled angular relation to the planes of said webs,

impregnated throughout with a vulcanized rubber and having a surface layer of vulcanized rubber. p

4. A flexible sheet material comprising a Web of pile fabric having a woven body with pile fibres -woven therein and compacted to lie in intermingled angularrelation to the plane of said web impregnated throughout with a permanently flexible water-repellant material and having a surface coating adherent to the impregnating material.

5. A liexible sheet material comprising a web -of pile fabric having a woven body wlth pile fibres woven therein and compacted to lie in intermingled angular relation to the plane of the web and impregnated throughout with vulcanized rubber and having a surface coating of vulcanized rubber coherent with said impregnating rubber and adherent to said pile fibres.

In testimony whereof, I have signed myl name to this specification.

DAVID P. CUMMINGS.

Having thus described the invention, what isol 

